2 John – The Message of Our Mission • 05.19.24
The Message of Our Mission
2 John
Two exhortations concerning truth and love
- Walk as obedient believers
- Watch out for wicked deceivers
Good morning again! My name is Jack Flaherty and I am blessed both to serve as one of the pastors here at Harvest and to open up God’s Word with you all this morning. Today we are continuing in our series “Walking in the Truth” through the letters of John by diving into 2 John and next week we will wrap things up with 3 John.
Before we dive in, time to dismiss 4th-5th graders. The rest of us, I ask that you please open up in your copy of the Scriptures to 2 John. If you need a Bible, the ushers are making their way through the room and would love to hand you a copy to follow along. As you get to the letter, as with any new letter we study, it is good to cover a few introductory matters. In a couple minutes let’s talk about the shortness, sweetness, and similarities of these letters.
First, the shortness. These two letters contain less than 300 words each. Could fit them both on one page. They are indeed the shortest in the NT and in the whole Bible.
Second, sweetness. These letters are jammed packed! I found myself struggling to know the best way to communicate the joys of what is contained here. As with any text you hear preached on a Sunday morning, we certainly will not enjoy all the possible sweetness from these texts in one sermon. Though I do hope to give a taste of its sweetness in our time today. So let me commend more study in these books to you. If interested I’d be happy to share some places you could start!
Finally, similarities. As the names suggest, the evidence is slanted for the apostle John writing both letters. Likely in a similar context to 1 John, writing near Ephesus in the late 1st century as an older man. That means we hear similar language in all three letters. Specifically, we will see glimpses of the three tests Pastor Nick has talk to us about concerning doctrine, morality, and love. The pastoral nature 2 & 3 John come out as we see John’s heart for those under his ministerial care. Both letters end nearly identically with John sharing a desire to show up in person. In both letters v4 emphasizes the joy John has to see spiritual children walking in the truth. And many would highlight that there is a similar theme surround hospitality in these two short letters. I would agree but say it goes even deeper than that.
Which brings me to our sermon title today, The Message of Our Mission. In what John addresses surrounding walking in truth he is actually drilling in on some specific concerns related to those under his care continuing in the gospel and supporting the spread of the gospel. John writes not just about having people over or not, but about helping the advancement of the gospel and stopping the spread of a false gospel. He wants to remind these believers through warmth and warning about their God given mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ amongst the nations. Lest I give away the sermon before let’s go ahead and read 2 John in its entirety.
Do you all remember the Laurel vs Yanny debate on social media? How about the Gold vs Blue dress? Debate on which was right went viral! Various perspective impacted how people saw the truth BUT the reality is there was a right answer! Laurel and Blue. Now those are humorous examples of how perspectives and experiences of allusions can impact our senses BUT when it comes to something must more important, the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ which Christians are called to trust in and spread, we might also be tempted to debate or even drift away from the original mission and start sharing some other message on account of our perspective and experiences. This is not unique to our day, it has been and always will be a problem. Therefore, we ought to listen closely to what John writes because he gives us two crucial tools to help us stay the course–Truth and love.
Did you hear those words as we read a moment ago? Whereas we are usually tempted to be either/or kind of people, John says they are equally important in the life of a believer. As we live in a time where truth is often seen as whatever one wants it to mean from ones experience or preference and where love is seen as whatever one wants it to be from ones feelings and desires, we can be benefitted much by this little letter of John. Thus our endeavor today is to observe two exhortations concerning the truth and love. Truth and love seem to be important to John in his exhortation to this church and thus ought to be for us as well!
But first, this might already spark a question. “Exhortation to this church? I didn’t read that.” Well there is some debate here in v1 as to the recipient of 2 John. Who is the elect lady and her children? Is this a woman and her family or a pseudonym for a local church and its members? In my studies it seems the evidence slants toward a local church and its members. Lots of reasons for this including where the church is called in lady in places in Eph 5, 1 Peter 5, Rev 21 and also how John often uses little children not to talk biological kids but disciples. So it will be helpful for you to know that’s what I refer to from here on out.
And to this church, John is concerned first to leverage his loving shepherd heart to urge this church and its constituents in the truth and love. He wants them to know even if there is a tension they are not at odds but rather are necessary components of obediently following Jesus Christ. Which brings up our first exhortation.
- Walk as obedient believers
As we look at v1-6 we see mostly positive communication from John to this church. In v1 he shows he loves in truth as does the community of truth followers around them. This truth that is inside them is lasting and v3 says carries forth grace, mercy, and peace. This brings John joy in v4 and leads him to encourage them to keep walking in the truth as commanded my God. This true command as v5-6 say is to love one another. V6 reminds me of 1 John 2 especially v6 where it says if we have really experienced the forgiveness of Jesus we will walk as Jesus walked. There is a need for those who believe rightly to obey rightly. And this right obedience comes from truth and results in love. Do we hear all three tests there? John is exhorting by commandment and by commendation that obedient believers are about both things: truth and love!
Our culture, and even the Christian world, has done us a disservice in defining truth and love. If you define truth as simply saying something factual and moving on, that’s not really loving. And if you define love as warm fuzzies, having fun, or absence of hard then that’s not really true. Both these definitions put us in position to be places and with people who help us love ourselves better and help us stay in our idea of truth. Is that the goal? NO! If we are called to walk like Jesus yes we give the truth but we also care about the person on the receiving end just like the one who gave his life as a ransom for many. And yes, we love but we love according to the commandments of God and what God says love is, not warm fuzzies but selflessly serving.
Does your walk look like both truth and love? If you are a human being like me sometimes are better than others. To help us in our God given mission here are three ways we think about walking in truth and love as obedient believers from this text.
First we see John ask them to remain in the truth and love personally. You may have noticed in v2 the word abide and in v9. This word means to live, stay, or remain. To stay firm, to hold it down, to let roots sink deep. John says truth abides in us, he and others others because of truth, and he warns that nor loving or abiding in truth equates to not knowing God! So if we want to walk obediently we need to remain in the truth and love of God! Truth and love are inseparable! As v2 hints this is an eternal thing! And as v3 says no truth and love we experience grace mercy and peace from God the Father AND God the Son (important as we consider the heresy he addressed in 1 John and here in 2 John). God himself is the originator of truth and love.
How do we remain in love? We obey God’s command do it. As the great poets DC Talk once said, love is a verb! Reading through a book in pre-marital counseling with a couple last week I was reminded love is about that action! As the originator, God commands us to walk in love according to v5-6. Not a new command but one that’s been the same from the beginning. Jesus sums what it means to follow God stretching back into the OT in the Great Commandment of Matthew 22:37-40–we are to love God and love others. This is part of our church mission statement because its part of the believer’s mission requirements! As he explains in V6 love is the command and the command is to love. Not circular but synergistically building layer upon layer and gaining momentum like a snowball sent down a mounting into an avalanche. The more we love the more we obey and the more we obey the more we love and all of this obedience and love is governed by what is true and been true since day one! A believer’s pattern of life is marked with & shaped by God’s command of selfless & sacrificial love in an ongoing & increasing way.
Which brings us to truth. Popular opinion is that everyone can have their own truth. But this cannot be. It becomes clear even with a few silly examples–like the Bruins won the series OR that I am 7 ft tall–that we can’t all have our own truth. There are some things that are a bit more difficult and that John hits a specific untruth here concerning the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Yet it is nonetheless crucially important as believers to remain in the reality that our God of truth established! Something isn’t true just because we say it, believe it, experience it, or want it to be. Its true because its true! So how do we abide in truth? We need to see what God has said in his word directly and principally and remain there! That’s why we encourage individually and corporately to get into the Bible. To read it, study it, memorize it, meditate on it, sing it, pray it. The better we know the Bible the better we know truth. I would argue the temptation to deviate from this is not just a worldly problem but a church problem. We too are tempted to go by feeling and experience in big and small things. Lets remain in truth and love personally.
Second we see John calling them to rejoice in truth and love in others. In v4 John rejoices “greatly” or “exceedingly” or “very much” which is not a very common word but John uses in both letters. Don’t skip this. Strong! Like a WOOHOO! Could have just said he was pumped but instead VERY pumped! Joy is in finding some walking in truth which again is living life that embraces God’s ways in thought and action. Greek word to find is “eureka” not the vacuum but the found thing! John isn’t jealous or upset but rejoicing! And in the call to love one another this rejoicing has to at least be a small part of it.
This has been a part in various ways of some pulpit curriculum. When is the last time you commended someone and rejoiced in what you see God doing in and thru them? We need to look for these things! Parents, what a way to bless your children! Child/students what a way to encourage someone older than you. Church member, can you image a place where we are pretty bold and open to rejoice greatly for what we see the children of God doing?! Now I get the objection might be “just doing my job, this is the role or the Biblical mandate or the expectation or not a big deal to me, etc” But John is literally saying this is an old command from God YET he rejoices! This doesn’t mean we go making stuff up or butter people up falsely but if you see someone young or old, in your walk of life or not, and I would say in our church or not as John hints towards other congregations in v12. Lets help each other walk obediently by encouraging one another when we see obedience in truth and love happening!
Third we reject those who reject truth and love. This really is getting into our second point, but we ought to connect it here as well because John does. In v7 it begins with “for.” Obey FOR there are many deceivers. The importance of remaining in truth and walking in love is exactly because there is something counterfeit out there that leads to failure in both truth and love. Specifically those who teach Jesus didn’t come in the flesh. Same heresy of 1 John. Every worldview that misses the Christian worldview starts right here, missing something with Jesus. We ought to reject anyone who comes and outright teaches such a lie!
This has implications for Christians too. Though we ought not reject one another, we ought to reject allowing anyone who claims Christ to mess with truth about his incarnation and its implications. For example, Jesus as a man spoke truth about what God said. But always in love! May we avoid thinking we can speak truth without love. Saying “I told you the truth, its loving.” while acting like a jerk has shows no care and is actually not Christlike . Similarly, we sometimes jettison truth in the name of love. This is maybe where more often evangelicals err. Jesus showed if we divorce truth from love than that’s actually not loving at all!
Where do you lean? Does your walk look like both truth and love? Let me rephrase this question a little bit, John writes not to an individual person, but to a group of people. So we as a body of followers of Jesus…how are we doing with maintaining the tension of truth and love? I love how Alistair Begg put it, “This is too hard you say? I wonder if it’s a bit like taking up our cross daily and following Jesus Christ.” Its not supposed to be a cake walk! YET we are walking with the one whose yoke is not oppressive but a buoy and ballast for our souls. One who does suck life from us like a but who breathes life into us! We can maintain this balance of truth and love ONLY we keeping all we got squarely focused on the one abides in us and will be with us forever.
If you are a believer, we have the assurance that grace and mercy and peace from God will be with us. And if we walk with him we will be increasingly looking like him. We won’t ever get it perfect but we’ll keep growing! I heard the other day Coach K and Nick Saban talking about Kobe Bryant. He knew he could never be perfect but worked every day to close that gap. Christian brother or sister, as we heard from Peter at vison Sunday sermon to kick of 2024, are you making every effort to grow in truth and love? Let’s be encouraged from this short letter to consider how we might continue to grow in Christlikeness and see each day as an opportunity to receive love and truth and strength from him in order to reflect his love and truth to the world around us.
Part of this making sure we reflect the right message. As we just read in v7 there is a false message out there! While v1-6 is mostly this affirmation and reminder, v7-13 is mostly a warning and reprimand. To help these believers stay on mission John warns them, in truth and love, to
- Watch out for wicked deceivers
We see three imperatives here “watch,” “do not receive,” and “do not give.” Why? Because if we do we take part with the wicked works of the deceiver and antichrist who propagates the message that Jesus didn’t come in flesh. This taking part is the word κοινιωνεω or “fellowship” a word we may be familiar with. Getting friendly with the enemy! As we consider mission, John exhorts the church to keep things moving and keep our heads on the swivel as we do NOT want to be doing the work for our opponents. If our mission is to share the gospel then the last thing we want to do is be counterproductive to it. So we watch out!
What does this watching out look like? We see a series of “do nots” here. First, v8 warns do not forfeit a full reward. This is why you need to watch yourself! Not to watch and judge others but self! The language here (“lose,” “worked for,” “reward”) sometimes raises concern. First, that talk of “reward” ought not be concerning since it is common in the NT, referring to the eternal benefits of trusting Christ and persevering in that faith. This does not mean that we earn such reward by our deeds but that God rewards these deeds which are fueled by grace. What then does John mean by referring to this as something “we have worked for”? John, and those with him, have worked with these people, preaching, discipling, rebuking, and encouraging. He does not want that work to be in vain. And the people themselves have exerted effort along the way. John is not saying they have earned salvation, but that much effort has gone into the work. If they turn away, they will waste that effort. I do think “losing” referred to here refers to the eternal state of their souls. Those who move away from the apostolic teaching do not have God. This is NOT that they lose a salvation they once had but will reveal that despite all their effort and external appearces, they were never truly converted 1 John 2:19 “they went out because they were never apart.” It looked like they had it but actually miss the full reward.
Don’t forfeit a full reward! If you’ve heard the true message of Jesus remain in it! And watch out for smooth talkers who might lead you astray. I can sadly think of friends from college who have done this. We can think of brothers and sisters who’ve been disciplined from our church for deviating from this truth. We can think children and relatives of those in this room who one time said “YES” to Jesus but have some by subsequent behavior and believe that the full reward does not belong to them. Watch yourselves and call to those who’ve wandered to come back to truth.
John next turns in v9 to the fact that these are people who are deceivers and antichrist, not the Antichrist but teaching something that is anti Jesus, “go on ahead.” Secondly, do not forego Christ’s foundational teaching. Literally some where saying there is an advance class but instead of moving up they are moving out of truth! If you do you stay in what you’ve heard from the beginning do not have God! Isn’t this what many opponents of Christianity say? But it is that simple and that profound! Parents if you don’t know this and for any adult out there doing the same, TikTok might be the most dangerous place for this. There are many people who are promoting teaching other than that which is from God many sound good and are charismatic and know how to use that and other platforms well. Don’t fall for the advanced class. I might add though we can go on to deeper things of faith there is a reason the gospel is the deepest. Stop thinking we need to meander to places that are not helpful for the mission and might expose to danger. Conspiracy, political speech, and elsewhere if you aren’t careful could lead to a badspot.
Jesus coming in the flesh is the most crucial thing we can know. This foundational teaching was so clear the whole gospel! The truth of the gospel is simple, we are sinners who deserved earth. Yet God loved so understood the depraved situation that in love he came in the flesh and hung on a cross! . His flesh was necessary for the payment to count for you and me. AND his divinity was necessary for it to be powerful enough to satisfy the payment that we owed. Without this reality we are toast! This is the good news! If you’re here wondering why truth and love matter, why walking obediently matters, why watching out for something that deviates might matter, its because our loving God freely laid down his life for us. We get pumped at any little sight of sacrifice and the biggest one ever, we say “meh”? I don’t think so! Don’t ever ever ever get past that and watch out for those who tell you otherwise.
Next do not is do not facilitate false teaching! V10 house as house church. Thus it follows receiving and greeting is a more official way of given them a place to share their ideas. This is not being rude or unloving, but rather the most loving we could do for them or others. Jesus welcomed who he disagreed with but did allow heretics to entertain their views in a way that brings danger. You have a mission so don’t go helping the opponent. Further, consider the context of the day was very different as far as hospitality. Inns were horrible and so having some one who could put you up was nearly mandatory. Bible often talks about hosting even strangers in your home. So this is not saying don’t have Mormon family at your house or say his to the JWs at the farmers market. Rather it is saying if we do provide and promote them v11 its giving platform and is same as perpetuating false teaching. We have a weighty responsibility to be careful about what ministries we support. Good intentions are not enough.
Thankful for our missions team discernment in who we take on. Thankful for wisdom in ministry partnerships. Thankful for that as far as what we do with whom as far as other churches in the community. But the principles still might be worth thinking in your own life, where ought you watchout what you are moving forward and facilitating false teachers.
V12 John moves from NOT greeting those false teachers to “you best greet me when I roll in!” and this brings completion of joy! This final do not to say do not forsake the joy of face-to-face fellowship. Don’t greet those not on mission BUT DO greet those on mission with you. Affectionately affirming truth together! Even from church to church as v13 seems to hint at another local church greet. Directly contrasting not to greet those false teachers but you are no false teacher and so we indeed greet you. There is something about being together that protects us from deception. Being with those on the same team keeps us from wandering beyond the bounds of truth and love as we stir each other up. Again more I want to say but we will say for next week as he repeats himself to end 3 John, so a teaser to come back!
Brothers and sisters, from 2 John may we heed these two exhortations to we walk as obedient believers and we would watch out for wicked deceivers. message of our mission matters. We need the gospel, we need it known, stood upon, abided in, and rightly refuted and refused when something counterfeit is brought up. As one commentator said be confessional Christians not counterfeit Christians. Let’s proclaim Christ come in the flesh and remain in that until he comes again. Which is what we will do now with Lords Supper.
Jesus, who came in the flesh, suffered in the flesh for us! It is that fact that is central to the message of the gospel! As we partake in the Lord’s Supper, that’s what we are remembering. We are seeing a picture of the gospel message before our eyes of the broken body and shed blood of Jesus. The truest example of love in history. Before we partake, a couple of important notes. We welcome all believers, but if you have not repented and placed your faith in Christ then we ask you consider the message of the gospel and respond obediently or let the elements pass by. Also, we heed the Biblical warnings of not only being a believer, but of dealing with unconfessed sin and disunity in the body. HE died to deal with sin so we ought not hide it. HE died to buy a people together so we ought not sit here with divisions or issues between Christians unaddressed. Lets take a moment now, seeing the gospel in front of us, to look inward dealing with sin, to look around at our neighbors, we look back to what Jesus did on the cross, and we look forward to eating the meal with him in eternity. Ushers forward and worship team up as we take some time to reflect then I will come up, pray, and then we take it all together.
PRAY. In 1 Cor 11:23-34, Paul relays to us what he received from the Lord, recalling that night Jesus was betrayed. Jesus took the bread and gave thanks and breaking it said “this is my body, which is for you. Eat this in remembrance of me.” Let’s eat together. In the same way he took the cup saying “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.” Let’s drink together. Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus! Let’s stand together and sing to our loving God.